Portable gas stove



June 15, 1965 G. coRLET PORTABLE GAS lSTOVE Filed De@ 2, 1963 3 Sheets-Sheet- 1 ATTORNIDS June 15, 1965 G, F, oRLET PORTABLE GAS STOVE 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Dec. 2, 1963 ATTORNEYI United States Patent O 3,189,016 PORTABLE GAS STOVE Gabriel F. Corlet, Pierre-Benite, France, assignor to Application des Gaz, Paris, France, a French joint- Stock company Filed Dec. 2, 1963, Ser. No. 327,214 Claims priority, application France, Dec. 7, 1962, 43,126, Patent 1,349,428 1 Claim. (Cl. 126-48) The present invention generally relates to portable gas stoves land more particularly to such devices utilizing a Iliqueed combustible gas,

One object of this invention is to provide a portable stove or the like having a reduced height and Ihowever comprising va liquelied gas cartridge of big c/:tp-acit both characteristics which were heretofore contradictory.

Another object of the invention is to provide Va portable stove or the like, which is very stable even if dis- .posed on an uneven sur-tace.

These objects are accomplished in a preferred embodiment of the invention whe-rein a casing isprovided with: a removable cylindrical gas-cartridge having its geometric axis horizontally orientated, a cylindrical intermediate Itank parallel to the gas-cartridge, and an adjust-ment gascock controlling the gas supply to a burner. A iirst pipe connects the axial zone of the gas-cartridge to the lowermost inside portion of the intermediate tank. A second .pipe connects lthe uppermost inside portion oct the said in- ,automatically and successively assuming the perforation ci Ithe latter .and its connection to the said lirst pipe when assembling the stove.

In the annexed drawings:

|FIG. 1 is a top plan View of a gas stove according to the invention.

FIG. 2 isa side View thereof.

FIG. 3 is a perspective View thereoif.

FIG. 4 is a cross-section taken on the line IV--IV ("FIG, 1). p

FIG. 5 is a top plan view, partially in section, showing Itile cartridge locked on the stove.

IFIG. 6 is a corresponding view when placing the cartridge.

lFIG. 7 diagrammaticallyillustrates the operation princi'ple of the gas stove.

BIG. 8 corresponds to FIG. 5 and is a sectional view at a larger scale showing .the gas-intake head connecting the cartridge after perforation of the la-tter.

FIG. 9 corresponds to FIG. 6 and shows the same gasintake head before perioration.

The gas stove according to the invention comprises a metallic casing 1 of parallelepipedic general form, the upper face of ywillich pivotally carries a folding grid 2. The latter may be locked yon the casing 1 by means of a resilient clip 3 in view of supporting a cooking pan or dish.

yUnder folding grid 2 is situated a gas burner 4 controlled by an adjustment gas-cock 5. The latter is placed within the casing 1, excepting only its knob 6 which may be operated from outside. The gas-cock 5 is connected by means ot" a pipe 7 to an intermediate tank 8. The latter has a cylindrical wall and is horizontally orientated. Another pipe 9 connects the intermediate tank 8 to a gas- Vintake head 10 laterally situated Within the casing 1 and gas-.tightly communicating with the inside space of a gasice end 7a of pipe 7, previously referred to as second pipe,

debouches inside the intermediate tank 8 near the uppermost point of same. The end 9a of pipe 9, previously referred to as iirst pipe, debouches inside thefintermediat-e `tank 8 nea-r the lowermostpoint of same.

Further, casing 1 is provided with a cradle 11 made of metallic bars, and coacting with a pivotable locking Ibar y13 in order to maintain the cartridge 1'2. i

Intermediate t-ank 8 and cartridge 12 are both of cylindrical form and horizontally orientated within the casing 1. Thanks to this disposition, cartridge 12, intermediate tank 8 and gasJcock 5 may be situated as low as possible within the casing 1, i.e. close to the lowermost face of same. As a result thereot, the total height of the gas stove .assembly is reduced to .a minimum scarcely .exceeding the diameter of cartridge v12. g

The gas-intake head 10 (-FIGS. 5, 6, 8, 9) comprises a body rigidly secured to the casing 1 and within which vare situated a fixed hollow needle 14 and a vgas-tight slidable piston IS/of tubular shape surrounding said hollow needle. A helical spring 16, disposed between the body ot head 10 and the piston 15, outwardly solicitates the latter in direction of a movement-limiting thrust member 17. Thefront face of piston 15 is provided .with an annular deformable seal 18 co-axial with the hollow needle 14. Theree end of the latter may be covered or uncovered by seal `18 du-ring the longitudinal displacements of piston 115. Further the body off gas-intake-head 10 is rigidly secured to a bell-receiver 19 capable oimain- Atainingthe end to be perforated on cartridge 12.

.Gas-intake head 10 is ixedon the inner face of a lateral wall of casing 1, and the common geometric axis of hollow needle 14 and bell-receiver 19 is perpendicular to the said lateral wall. On the opposite internal face of casing v1 are situated hinges 20 (FIGS. 5 and 6) by which is pivotally carried the loclcing bar 13. 'Ihe latter is realized in the form of a lever articulated about hinges 20 and having a small arm 21 coming into contact with the non-perforated bottom of cartridge 12, whilst its big- -ger arm is bent at 22 and comprises thrust portions 23 and a cramp 24 pivotally mounted at its free end,

The locking bar 13 of ythe locking mechanism may be ,outwardly turned ('FIG. 6). The distance betweenbellreceiver and .the end of small lever-'arm 21 is sufficient to permit the introduction of cartridge 12 into said bellreceiver 19. The position of cartridge 12 is simultane- .ously determined byV abutment against cradle 1-1. If now pivoting back the bar 13 about hinges 20 until cramp 24 snaps into an adequate hole 25 provided on casing 1, the small lever-'arm 21 engages cartridge 12 into the bellreceiver 19. The thrust portions 23 are then resiliently torce-d against cartridge 12 consequently to the general distortion of locking-bar 13 necessary -to linsert cramp 24 into hole 25.

The operation is as follows:

For loading or reloading the gas stove according to the invention, .a cartridge 12 containing a liqueiied gas is placed in casing 1 as previouslyv described. The action of lock-ing in place said cartridge 12 by means of lockingbar 13`causes its .introduction into bell-receiver 19. The front-wall 26 of cartridge 112 (FIGS. 5, 6, 8, 9) rst comes into contact with seal 18. The latter preferably engages annular seal 118 pressed by spring 16 against wall Z6. It is apparent that this gas-intake head permits not to take care of the angular orientation of cartridge 12 when loading a gas stove according to the invention. Further, the locking bar 13 is preferably realized in a profile such as the end of small lever-arm 21 goes beyond an unstable equilibrium or dead center position when placing cartridge 12 and pivoting the bar 13 about the hinges 20. This preferred embodiment of invention eliminates any possible inopportuno opening of locking bar 13 under the action of spring 16.

It will be apparent that the pressure of the liquefied gas situated within the cartridge 12 is transmitted to intermediate tank 8 by means of the connecting gas-intake head 10 and rst pipe 9. According as the liquid level 27 within cartridge 12 is situated above or under the axial perforation corresponding to hollow needle 14, it is apparent that respectively either liquid or gas is introduced 'by the first connecting pipe 9 into the intermediate tank 8. In the'case of a liquid inlet, the expansion necessarily observed When the fuel penetrates into intermediate tank 8 causes at least a .partial vaporization thereof. 1n any case the upper portion of the inner space of the intermediate tank 8 contains f-uel in gaseous state. The inlet end 7a of the second connecting pipe 7 being situated in this upper portion of intermediate tank 8, it will be appreciated that it is always surrounded by gas. Consequently, cock 5 and burner 4 are permanently supplied with gaseous lfuel, whatever may be the position of the liquid level 27 within cartridge 12. The stove object of the invention may be then operated as any other traditional stove by turning the actuating knob 6 of the gas-c-ock 5. A supply of the burner 4 with liquid fuel is made impossible at any time in spite of the horizontal orientation of cartridge 12.

Another important advantage of this embodiment of the invention is to avoid any inopportune water-accumulation within intermediate tank 8. In practice, itrhas been observed that water appears in the intermediate tank 8 and accumulates at its lower portion, in consequence of its density which is higher than the density of the combustible liquefied gas. The presence of this water in the intermediate tank 8 is inopportune because it may be prejudicial to the normal operation of the stove on the one hand and, on the other hand, it may corrode the inside Iwall of the intermediate tank 8. When a cartridge 12 lhas been emptied, the assembly of intermedi-ate tank 8, connecting pipes 7 and 9 and said cartridge 12, contains a residual amount of gas under low pressure. Consequently, when removing away the cartridge 12 from the stove, the residual gas in intermediate tank 8 expands and drives off the accumulated water through the lower end 9a of the rst pipe 9. This suore-action permits to eliminate outside any residual liquid possibly accumulated at the lower portion of the intermediate tank 8.

It is still apparent that the stove object of the invention may be used either with one big cartridge (weighing for example about one pound) or with tvvo cartridges of smaller unitary capacity (weighing for example half pound each) placed end-to-end.

Quite obviously, it will be possible to modify the shape of the intermediate tank 8 or of the cartridge 12. More specially, the connection of the latter tothe iirst connecting pipe 9 may be realized by any known means instead of the above-described gas-intake head 10.

What I claim is:

In a portable gas sto-ve, 4aV relatively flat casing, a cylindrical gas-cartridge containing a liqueiied combustible gas; means for supporting said cartridge for horizontal axial movement in said casing; an intermediate tank of smaller size than said cartridge disposed horizontally in said casing beside said cartridge; a gas-burner in said 'cas'- ing; -a gas-cock connected to and controlling said burner; a gasintake head in the casing disposed axially opposite one end of the cartridge and having a hollow puncturing needle adapted to perforate said end of the cartridge when the latter is urged thereagainst; means for forcing the cartridge into puncturing contact with said needle; a iirst pipe connecting the lowermost portion of the intermediate tank with the hollow needle for delivering gas and liquid into the intermediate tank; and a second pipe connecting the uppermost portion of the intermediate tank with the gas-cock for delivering gas to the burner, whereby the total height of the casing may be maintained at a minimum scarcely exceeding the diameter of the cartridge, and whereby any residual gas in the intermediate tank will vaporize .and drive off any accumulated liquid therein through the first pipe when the cartridge is removed from the cas-i-ng References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,164,058 12/15 Bayne 158-53 X 1,638,434 8/27 Curme 158-53 2,587,078 2/52 Wollner 158-53 2,613,849 10/52 Ward 222-5 2,728,635 12/55 Garrett et al 158-32 2,853,126 9/58 Corlet 222-5 3,006,406 10/ 61 Goddard 126-44 X FOREIGN PATENTS 1,097,229 2/ 5 5 France.

JAMES W. WESTHAVER, Primary Examiner. 

